Once Upon A Time
Marvels are a means to an end, wonders make you think if there is an end
Hello everyone, today’s broadcast stems from a conversation I have had recently, which eventually spawned the question “what are the modern wonders of our world?”. It may be due to our lack of knowledge, but it was noticeably difficult to name any potential nominees- Why is that? Have we lost the spark? Or skills? Dedication? Whatever it is, its amazing how humanity has more than it ever has had, and yet we don’t have what our ancestors did that enabled them to build such wonders.
Disclaimer
Many of the embedded links will refer to the Wikipedia pages of mentioned wonders- the best way to begin one’s journey into a rabbit hole.
I may or may not have missed a wonder or a building built by your country or religion- my bad
When I refer to the ‘modern’ era, I’m more referring to the digital and information age, so lets loosely define modern as end of the Cold War (1989) to the present day
One argument could be that in ancient eras, humanity had less general knowledge about the world: less things were explained by science, more by mystique or by attribution to gods and higher life forms. As a result, there perhaps was a need felt to build something to commemorate these beings(more on this later), to build something that would outlast them.
One could argue that as our knowledge of the world increased, our wonder of it decreased. The gaps once plugged by imagination, were now filled with knowledge. I am not arguing that this isn’t a good thing, but while knowledge has opened an incredible number of doors, it may have closed a few others.
The “Greaters”
I’d argue the most significant declining influence that has led to fewer wonders being built in the world is the decline of the “Greater”. These “Greaters”, whether gods or emperors, kings or other forms of rulers were often the reason as to why many of the ancient wonders were built. The Colossus of Rhodes, The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, The Hanging Gardens, The Statue of Zeus, The Temple of Artemis and The Great Pyramid of Giza were all constructed to some degree to either commemorate, remember, acknowledge or were dedicated to the “Greats”.
However, over time as more countries morphed into democracies, as as religion’s hold on the world waned, there were fewer and fewer “Greats” to acknowledge in the first place. Lets first go into the ‘people’ side:
The Faux “Greats”(Kings and Rulers)
Modern day dictators or tyrants may be the only ones with the potential heft to build something like a statue or a build to commemorate themselves: revolving presidents or prime ministers who appear and disappear in a span of a couple of years have no chance to do anything like this. But even these modern day dictators and autocratic rulers have not attempted anything remotely close that is worth of consideration of being labelled a wonder.
In lieu of gods or rulers, the rising class of people with the adoration and impact on the world are celebrities, but I’ll be damned if a 100m tall statue is erected for Taylor Swift, Beyonce or Robert Downey JR as Iron Man: There has to be a line somewhere. Another issue for any potential person having a statue is that in today’s polarized world, there are very few people well liked by everyone across all the different spectrums and segments of society.
In a time where there have never been as many countries with the capability to build wonders, and a global population of over 8 billion, only 2 statues have been built which merit consideration of wonder-status: the Statue of Unity (below) in India and the Spring Temple Buddha in China.
Religion’s declining influence
The decline of religion is not to be ignored here too. I do not have the time, knowledge or capacity to cover this topic in the way it deserves, but I’ll give it a go. One perfect example of the decline of wondrous builds coinciding with the decline of religion is Christianity, and in particular Catholicism:
Gone are the days of constructions of gothic cathedrals and churches, that skill appears to be largely lost to us. The closest thing we have to wonders built by Catholicism in recent times are two examples: The Christ the Redeemer in Brazil - in my opinion definitely in consideration as a wonder, but built in 1931- stretching the definition of ‘recent times’, and the Sagrada Familia (below). However the Sagrada Familia began construction in 1882 (also not quite ‘recent’), and was halted due to the death of the genius designer Antoni Gaudi. In my opinion this will truly be a wonder, not just because of its awe inspiring design but its already rich provenance, and singular instance of modern inter-generational construction, it is certain to cement its place as a wonder. Personally, its on my bucket list of places to visit.
The only branch of Christianity that appears to still have the building chops is Eastern Orthodoxy, see the People’s Salvation Cathedral.
It must be said that Islam appears to currently be in the pole position with regards to construction of religious behemoth buildings, and may have produced or is producing candidates worthy of consideration for wonder designation, such as the Astana Grand Mosque (below), the Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mosque or the Çamlıca Mosque.
Time for a Brief Tangent
There was an interesting anecdote in Neil Postman’s “Amusing Ourselves to Death”(which we talked more about in a previous broadcast!), where he suggested that the discovery of time and the clock led to the eventual downfall of religion: the creation of the concept of time allowed man to wrest control from higher beings and natural forces.
With the advent of time, man had more control over the day. The passing of time could be organized more effectively: Things are more in control, and with more control, humanity began to develop the domination of the earth, the sea, and eventually the skies. As each invention, each discovery, strengthened our grip on the world, there was less and less room for mystique or wonder: After all, why do we even bother imaging anything greater than us, if we can move mountains, we can control water, we make make Bluetooth from rocks!
Fast Forwarding to Today
So, in the information era, with no “Greats” to commemorate, no religion that sufficiently inspires us (apart from the aforementioned examples of Islam and the statues), do we even have the spark to build wonders anymore?
Devil’s Advocate
There is an argument to be had that we actually do have and are creating many wonders: The Three Gorges Dam, the ISS, the Large Hadron Collider, even the London Underground has its fans. However, I’d argue that these are not wonders, but marvels: and there is a difference:
Wonder Vs Marvel
These two words might heavily coincide and their definitions overlap, but I believe that they do indeed carry their own distinct set of characteristics. Marvels make you want to know how they work, they do something we couldn’t thought was possible- wonders are just simply a source of wonder, inspiration, making you stop the rush of life and think. Marvels are a means to an end, wonders make you think if there is an end. marvels are often a practical example or use-case of something, with the goal of achieving strategic, economic or tangible objectives, while wonders serve as a more grand display.
Take the International Space Station for example: It is undisputedly an impressive feat of cooperation and engineering, with its place cemented in the history books. But all of its characteristics point to it being a marvel, not a wonder. For one, it was a proof of concept, created as a means to undertake experiments in the vacuum of space. Furthermore, it is not too much of a stretch to imagine that there will be better, bigger versions of the ISS in the future. But perhaps the biggest indicator that it is not a wonder is that it will not have a permanent presence in our lives: it is scheduled to take a permanent dive into the ocean in 2030 :(
Can a Real Wonder Please Stand Up
So what is an example of a modern wonder? Personally, there is only one that comes to mind: The Sphere. Although it does not yet have the household name- level influence, I believe it will have a leading spot in the candidates for being a modern wonder. An incredibly unique construction, managing to stand out in the circus landscape of Las Vegas.
One could argue (in fact, I am arguing) that it could also be seen as a dedication to the apparent gods of today’s world, the screen. Much like having a cross or other religious symbol hang on a wall in our house, or constantly wear religious apparel or jewelry, the screen has matched this presence in our lives- With the Sphere being the first church/mosque equivalent.
Maybe my support for this building was a bit biased, because I really like this building- what won me over was the sphereturning into an emoji
Why so few?
So, how come there are so few wonders being built? One is often tempted to claim that the spark of inspiration, creativity is gone: the globalised world became more homogenous, with efficiency taking priority above all else. Much of culture doesn’t appear very creative either: just take one look at some of the sludge of movies being made, the prequels-of-the-collaboration-remake-of-the-original-sequel-to-the-trilogy movies, our most popular games are just carbon copies of last years versions, the epidemic of minimalism, or modern art:
However, I believe that the wonder generating ability is still among us, there’s just different avenues of expressing this now: In the digital and online world, your creativity does not have to be limited to a building now: you can construct worlds, stories, universes- the depth and detail of some games and movies such as Fallout 4 CyberPunk, even the Avatar movies.
What about the Internet?
The internet is different. Unique. Is it a wonder? Well, to put it simply, I can have an argument with a complete stranger about which back-up point guard in the NBA is the best while being on opposite sides of the globe- I can make make an “Earth sandwich” , I can find anything about anything: the internet is a source of wonder to me. But is it a wonder? That’s something I might leave for another time…
Make sure to give this broadcast a coherence score!
That’s all from me for now, but stay tuned for future broadcasts,
This has been Kunga’s Written Radio,
Check out last week’s broadcast here →
...or maybe it just takes a bit more time to recognize something as a wonder?